AE3211-I Systems Engineering and

Aerospace Design
• Overview & recap
• Aircraft balance

Dr. Fabrizio Oliviero (FPP)

Delft
University of
Technology

Challenge the future

Contents
• Introduction and overall overview of the Aircraft Design part

• Weight&balance
• Definition
• Estimation of the OEW CG
• Definition of the loading diagram
• Sensitivity to the Wing shift

• Landing gear location

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 2

Motivation

Motivation for the overall AE3211-I course:

• Complete what you need to design spacecraft and aircraft

systems!
• Understand how the elements from previous courses fit into a
coherent framework of how to engineer a complex aerospace
product!
• Get prepared for the Design Synthesis Exercise!
• Appreciate the use of Systems Engineering (not only for
aerospace products!)

See lecture 1 by Prof. Gil

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 3

Motivation

Motivation for this specific a/c design oriented

module:

• Complete what you need to design spacecraft and aircraft

systems!
• Understand how the elements from previous courses fit into a
coherent framework of how to engineer a complex aerospace
product! to perform conceptual design of aircraft
• Get prepared for the Design Synthesis Exercise!
• Appreciate the use of Systems Engineering through aircraft
application examples of:
• Requirements and Functional analysis
• Management of iterations in the design process

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 4

 Study material
• Lecture presentations
• Additional presentations will be available on BS
• Books on Aircraft Design previously cited in AE1222 and AE2111

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 5

A note on the notes*…

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 6

 The Aircraft Systems View
Aircraft system
Subsystems

Aircraft Training Support Facilities Personnel

Segments

Environmental Avionics Electrical Interiors Mechanical Propulsion Auxiliary Airframe

segment segment segment segment segment segment segment segment
Crew Auxiliary
Air Electrical Flight
Auto flight accomoda- Fuel power Fuselage
conditioning power controls
tions system
Cabin Communicati Shipside Passenger Hydraulic
Pylon Empennage
pressure ons lighting accomoda- power
tions
Ice and rain Indicating and Landing Power
Wing
protection recording gears plant
Water, waste,
lavs, galleys
Oxygen Navigation & plumbing Power
control
Pneumatic Emergency
provisions

Signs and AE1201+AE2111 This course

lights

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 7

 During this A/C module (3 lectures)

• (Weight &) Balance

• Mass estimation

• Determination of the CG locationS

• Stability
• Main landing gear positioning

• Tail Sizing
• Control (maneuverability)

All these aspect will be mainly faced for the longitudinal plane. The same analysis must
be applied also to the lateral-directional characteristics.

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 8

Relevance of weight&balance in a/c design

Complex or complicated? (see lecture 1)

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 9
 Relevance of stability and control in a/c
design
The functions allotted to the fixed and movable tail surfaces are as follows:

• To ensure equilibrium of moments for each operating flight condition

• To ensure that the equilibrium is stable (for both steady and dynamic
perturbations)

• To generate forces to maneuver the aircraft

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 11

Previously…

During AE2111-II you learnt to predict the EOW through class II estimation
methods.
A typical class II method combines relevant geometry and load
parameters (Nz) and corrective coefficient to calculate weight of
components
An iterative process is needed to
guarantee the convergence of the EOW
w.r.t. the value calculated during the
conceptual stage (Ae1222-II).

Q: why plural and not only a

method?

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 12

 Applying Class II methods

Class I
application
Class II results
Class II application

%MTOW

OEW1
What if OEW1 ≠ OEW2 ?
• Iterate until perc. diff < 1%
• Be aware of the consequences!!! OEW2
Mission + OEW/MTOW

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 13

The balance of the aircraft
• Assessment of the c.g. position of the empty
aircraft
• Assessment of the c.g. range during operations

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 14

 The balance of the aircraft
After the determination of all the component weights (and OEW),
the determination of the overall aircraft center of gravity (c.g.)
is necessary.
While the c.g. of the empty aircraft is more or less fixed, variation
in fuel and payload can generate large variations of the c.g.
position*.

However, airplane must be designed to guarantee safety and

full functionality…
• …for the whole range of c.g. positions,
• …both in flight…
• …and on the ground.

Balancing the aircraft is about managing and/or dealing

with* the position of the c.g. in order to guarantee safety
and full functionality during all the operations.
AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 15
 The balance of the aircraft

During design, the balance of the aircraft is generally achievable by

one or all of the following:

• longitudinal position of the wing with respect to the

fuselage*
• Size and position of the horizontal tail
• Distribution and location of systems and payload on the fuselage
• Location of landing gears
• Implementation of a control system for the fuel flow
• Prescription of limits on the loading procedure

…and during operation? How can the aircraft be balanced?

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 16

 The aircraft balance process
A typical design approach to balance the aircraft consists of the following steps:
1. Determine the center of gravity position of the aircraft at operative empty
weight*, for the assumed tail size and longitudinal wing position
2. Add the c.g. variations caused by non fixed items, such as payload (pax
and freight) and fuel*.  Loading diagrams.
3. Check the maximum c.g. range against the allowable most aft and most
forward c.g. position**.  X-plot
4. If necessary, adjust the tail size*** and longitudinal wing position, and
iterate from point 1

loading diagram X-plot

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 17

The aircraft balance process. The OEW c.g. position
To compute the c.g. position of the operative empty aircraft, it is necessary to
know the location of all the weight components with respect to the aircraft
reference system.

Example of component c.g. location information (source Roskam)

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 19

 Example of component c.g. location information

 x W CGi i
xCGOEW  i

W i
i

Fuselage CG: only structure +systems (the engine is always excluded)*

Tail**:

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 20

 Example of component c.g. location information

Wing (including movables and Nacelle:

systems, no fuel):

Engine:
Data provided directly by the
manufactures

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 21

The aircraft balance process. The OEW c.g. position
To control the c.g. of the empty aircraft moving the wing position with
respect to the fuselage, it is convenient to arrange the various weight
components into a fuselage group and a wing group

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 22

The aircraft balance process. The OEW c.g. position

What’s in the FUSELAGE GROUP?

All parts that are somehow fixed to the fuselage or generally related
to it, that is:

• Furnished fuselage with systems

• Fuselage mounted engines
• Tail
• Nose wheel

NO main landing gear, which is typically positioned with respect to

the wing MAC*

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 23

The aircraft balance process. The OEW c.g. position

What’s in the WING GROUP?

• wing structure with movables and systems
• wing mounted engines* with fuel systems
• The main landing gear - even when physically attached to the
fuselage!

Why?
The position of the landing gear, as the position of the wing, affects not
only the CG position but also the CG limits due to clearance and stability
requirements during ground operations.
The main landing gear is positioned relatively to the wing (i.e. to the wing a.c.) ,
typically at 45-50% MAC, to guarantee ease of rotation at take off.

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 24

The aircraft balance process. The OEW c.g. position

To obtain small tail loads, the center of gravity is always located close to
the wing aerodynamic center (a.c.):
Lw

xLEMAC

MAC
o o
ac c.g.
Mac

Therefore, it is convenient to express the c.g. location (Xcg) in %MAC*.

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 25

The aircraft balance process. The OEW c.g. position
Select an initial longitudinal wing-fuselage setting to determine the
c.g. position of the aircraft at OEW

A “first attempt” wing position (XLEMAC) can be estimated based on

known OEW c.g. positions (XOE) from reference aircraft, as follow*:
WW G
X LEMAC  X FG  X OE  ( X W G  X OE )
WFG

c.g.@ OEW (%MAC): 20-25% 35-40% 25-30%

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 26

Generation of the aircraft
loading diagrams

Estimation of the aircraft c.g. travel

during operation

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 27

 The loading diagram
Once the position of the aircraft c.g. @ OEW is known, cargo,
passengers and fuel are loaded until MTOW has been reached.
During loading, the c.g. of the aircraft will vary as shown in this graph,
called the loading diagram (or potato diagram).
45000

MTOW
43000

41000 window seats

aisle seats
MZFW 39000
middle seat

fuel

Goal of the diagram is

37000
mass [kg] cargo

to assess the maximum 35000

c.g. range* of the 33000

aircraft 31000

29000

27000

OEW 25000
0,000 0,050 0,100 0,150 0,200 0,250 0,300 0,350 0,400

xcg [mac]

Calculated
AE3211-I Systems Engineering with
and Aerospace class
Design II methods 28
 The passenger loading
Usually we rely on a statistical prediction of the
passenger distribution normally managed by
the different airliners.
The “window seating rule” can be adopted.

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 29

The cargo loading diagram
This graph is relative to a passengers aircraft with 2 cargo holds (front and
rear).

In this case the cargo has been represented as two concentrated masses.

However, when the cargo is arranged

in many unit loading devices, it is
better to consider the effect of each
unit load device separately.

In case of freighter, there are

hundreds of loading possibilities so
that the design problem is faced in the
inverse way:
Given the final fore-and-aft position of
the cg, what are all the possible
location of the cargo cg for different
amount of payload.

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 30

 The fuel loading diagram
For simplicity we can assume that the fuel c.g. is located in correspondence of the
tank c.g.

However different and separated fuel

tanks can be installed in a wing and a
fuel flow control system can be used to
manage the tanks emptying sequence.

Keeping fuel at the tip of the wing

increases the bending relief action.

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 32

 The loading diagram
This is the loading diagram of a passengers aircraft.

The 3 “potatoes” show the

45000

43000 effect of passengers

41000 window seats
occupying first the windows
aisle seats seats, then the aisle seats
and finally the center seats
39000
middle seat
fuel
37000

Use a 2% margins to account

mass [kg]

cargo

for the c.g. variations caused

35000

33000
by passengers and attendants
31000 moving, landing gear
29000
retracting, food and drinks
served, etc.
27000

25000
Q1: Why the top potato
0,000 0,050 0,100 0,150 0,200

xcg [mac]
0,250 0,300 0,350 0,400
is smaller?
Q2: Why is there no
symmetry?
AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 33
The loading diagram

Centered. The most convenient, because of the

small c.g. range

Tilted forward. The OEW c.g. is quite close to

the tail, due to the aft fuselage mounted engines.
Passengers and fuel shift the c.g. strongly
forward. More difficult to balance

Tilted backward. The OEW c.g. is slightly close

to the nose, due to the forward wing mounted
engines. Passengers shift c.g. backward. Less
difficult to balance due to the longer tail arm

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 34

 The loading diagram
The extreme front and aft c.g. position must be compatible with the
limits dictated by aircraft controllability and stability, both in flight* and
on the ground
The ground controllability and
45000

43000 stability limits depends on the

41000 window seats
landing gear positioning:
aisle seats

• The main gear must

39000
middle seat

37000
fuel
always sit behind the max
mass [kg]

cargo
35000
aft c.g. position (with some
margin to avoid tip over)
33000

31000
• The nose gear should not
29000 be overloaded**
(<15%MTOW) to not spoil
braking efficiency and allow
27000

25000
0,000 0,050 0,100 0,150 0,200 0,250 0,300 0,350 0,400
steering during braking
xcg [mac]

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 35

 Effect of longitudinal wing shift on c.g. travel

In order to affect the c.g. range (i.e., the position of the most fore
and aft c.g), the designer has the opportunity to modify the
longitudinal position of the wing (group) with respect to the
fuselage.

To study how the c.g. ranges changes with the longitudinal wing
position, we can generate 3 loading diagrams for 3 different wing
positions (expressed in terms of XLEMAC/lfuselage ratios):
• Position 1. (the one used for the initial tail sizing)
• Slightly forward wing positioning (e.g. position 1 -10%)
• Slightly backward wing positioning (e.g. position 1 +10%)

Finally, a plot can be generated that describes the c.g. range

variations for different longitudinal position of the wing w.r.t. the
fuselage (XLEMAC/lfuselage vs. Xcg/MAC)

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 37

Effect of longitudinal wing shift on c.g. travel
loading diagram wing postion 1

45000

43000
Initial wing positioning

41000 window seats

wing position 1
aisle seats
39000
middle seat

fuel
37000
cargo
mass [kg]

35000
2% in-flight variations

33000

31000
c.g. max range at wing position 1

29000

27000

25000
0,000 0,050 0,100 0,150 0,200 0,250 0,300 0,350 0,400
cg [mac]

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 38

 Effect of longitudinal wing shift on c.g. travel
laoding diagran wing position 2

45000

43000 Wing shifted forward

41000
(OEW c.g. moves back on MAC)
wing position 2

39000 window seats

aisle seats
middle seat
37000 fuel
cargo
mass [kg]

35000

33000 c.g. max range at wing position 2

31000

29000

27000

25000
0.000 0.050 0.100 0.150 0.200 0.250 0.300 0.350 0.400
xcg [mac]

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 39

 Effect of longitudinal wing
loading diagram shift
wing position 3 on c.g. travel
45000

43000

Wing shifted back

41000
(OEW c.g. moves forward on MAC)
wing position 3
39000

window seats
37000 aisle seats
middle seat
mass [kg]

fuel
35000 cargo

33000
c.g. max range at wing position 3

31000

29000

27000

25000
-0.100 -0.050 0.000 0.050 0.100 0.150 0.200 0.250 0.300 0.350 0.400
xcg [mac]

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 40

Effect of longitudinal wing shift on c.g. travel

c.g. max range at wing position 3 (backward)

c.g. max range at wing position 1

Most forward
Most aft

c.g. max range at wing position 2 (forward)

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 41

CG limits for ground operations
and landing gear location

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 42

 Angles of pitch and roll: limits
Clearance criterion:
The location and size of the landing gear must allow any combination of
pitch angle and roll angle that might occur during normal operations.

The f q envelope can be reported

in the graph where limits come
from interaction of part with the
ground for any combination of
those angles.

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 43

 Pitch angle limit
The angle between the vertical line and the line through the main gear and the
cg, should anyhow be larger than the tip-back angle which is the maximum
aircraft nose-up attitude with the tail touching down and the gear strut fully
extended.

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 44

 Pitch angle limit
Otherwise…

Note: larger the b angle, greater must be

the downforce produced by the tail to
guaranee the rotation at the take-off

Q: which position of the CG should

be considered?
Most aft CG positon!

A typical location of 10-15% MAC behind the most aft c.g. limit, which also prevents the
aircraft from tip-over

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 45

 Equilibrium on ground

Check with both the aft

and fwd positions!

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 47

 Turnover angle
Stability criterion:
The landing gear arrangement should guarantee that the CG is located inside
the gears triangle and also stability during sharp turns.

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 48

Turnover angle

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 49

LG location: limits due to wing
structure

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 51

 Design process for LG location &
size
1. Assume an initial landing gear position wrt the wing LEXMAC
2. Compute the CG position limits due to loading
3. Evaluate the height of the landing gear in order to meet the requirements
on the pitch angle limit
4. Calculate the position of the nose wheel according to steering loads
5. Evaluate also the width of the landing gear carriage du to stability and
lateral clearance criterion
6. Check if the attachments point, retraction system is not interfering with
other systems
7. If 6 is not satisfied, move the landing gear backwards and start again from
1 or, if needed, move the entire wing group backwards and repeat from
point 1.
8. Check that the size of the landing gear is consistent with the weight
calculated previously otherwise…Iterate again!

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 52

 During this lecture…

You have learnt:

1. the concept of aircraft balance and methods to control it
2. to compute the OEW CG of the aircraft and the effects of shifting the wing
groups on CG location
3. to compute the operational c.g. range of an aircraft (i.e. generation of
loading diagrams) and its dependency on the overall vehicle architecture
4. To evaluate effects of landing gear location and dimension on the ground
clearance and
5. How to deal with the CG limits due to ground operations

AE3211-I Systems Engineering and Aerospace Design 53